I'm looking at opening a bank account while I'm here in the US, which I can then hook up to Paypal and receive US dollars into (via their PayFlowPro solution, or something similar from another vendor). This isn't a long term solution to the problems/costs of receiving money in US dollars (damn Australian banks).
Ideally I'd be opening a business bank account (so I can do the merchant services thing properly), but I haven't set up a corporate structure here yet, and won't have time to on this trip, so I'll just be opening an account in my own name.
I imagine all the main banks have decent internet banking services now, which is great, so the advice I'm really looking for is who amongst the banks has the easiest online international transfers (so I can move money backwards and forwards between this account and my Australian accounts).
Of course, if easy=10% fees on international transfers, that will suck.
Ideally, it would be a feature where you can create a SWIFT transaction or similar via the internet banking interface and have the money turn up in AU a day or a few days later.
Has anyone who's moved to the US from AU, or vice versa, got any advice to offer here?
geoff.mcqu...@hiivesystems.com> wrote:
> I’m looking at opening a bank account while I’m here in the US, which I
> can then hook up to Paypal and receive US dollars into (via their PayFlowPro
> solution, or something similar from another vendor). This isn’t a long term
> solution to the problems/costs of receiving money in US dollars (damn
> Australian banks).
> Ideally I’d be opening a business bank account (so I can do the merchant
> services thing properly), but I haven’t set up a corporate structure here
> yet, and won’t have time to on this trip, so I’ll just be opening an account
> in my own name.
> I imagine all the main banks have decent internet banking services now,
> which is great, so the advice I’m really looking for is *who amongst the
> banks has the easiest online international transfers* (so I can move money
> backwards and forwards between this account and my Australian accounts).
> Of course, if easy=10% fees on international transfers, that will suck.
> Ideally, it would be a feature where you can create a SWIFT transaction or
> similar via the internet banking interface and have the money turn up in AU
> a day or a few days later.
> Has anyone who’s moved to the US from AU, or vice versa, got any advice to
> offer here?
Geoff,
our CFO is on school holidays but we process Paypal into Silicon Valley bank
and transfer back/forth to local NAB account. Those transfer fees are around
the $30-40 mark. Ping me late next week for more specific info :)
> On Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 12:02 PM, Geoff McQueen - Hiive Systems <
> geoff.mcqu...@hiivesystems.com> wrote:
>> I’m looking at opening a bank account while I’m here in the US, which I
>> can then hook up to Paypal and receive US dollars into (via their PayFlowPro
>> solution, or something similar from another vendor). This isn’t a long term
>> solution to the problems/costs of receiving money in US dollars (damn
>> Australian banks).
>> Ideally I’d be opening a business bank account (so I can do the merchant
>> services thing properly), but I haven’t set up a corporate structure here
>> yet, and won’t have time to on this trip, so I’ll just be opening an account
>> in my own name.
>> I imagine all the main banks have decent internet banking services now,
>> which is great, so the advice I’m really looking for is *who amongst the
>> banks has the easiest online international transfers* (so I can move
>> money backwards and forwards between this account and my Australian
>> accounts).
>> Of course, if easy=10% fees on international transfers, that will suck.
>> Ideally, it would be a feature where you can create a SWIFT transaction or
>> similar via the internet banking interface and have the money turn up in AU
>> a day or a few days later.
>> Has anyone who’s moved to the US from AU, or vice versa, got any advice to
>> offer here?
Thanks for the suggestion on Schwab this morning: I tried them, and they were very apologetic that they couldn't deal with a non-resident :( If I get an SSN, however, they should be good.
I had more luck with Bank of America - they were OK with me not being a resident. They support SWIFT xfers via their internet banking service, so if I can hook up PayflowPro from Paypal (to get a proper merchant gateway) to this account (not sure as it isn't a business account, but in the US paypal seems to be much more fully featured), then I can do something similar to what you're doing David. If the balance of the account is > $1500US then there are no monthly fees; else it is $8.99. There's a 6 month moratorium on fees in any case.
I also have a Visa debit connected to it so I can pay US suppliers - hosting companies and the like - via this US account, which could help mitigate exchange rate risk as well as reducing fees.
Will keep update the Valley wiki page with what I find...
Geoff
From: silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com [mailto:silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of David Jones
Sent: Wednesday, 21 October 2009 8:34 PM
To: silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com
Subject: [SiliconBeach] Re: Advice request: Which US Bank to open an account with (for international xfers)
Geoff,
our CFO is on school holidays but we process Paypal into Silicon Valley bank and transfer back/forth to local NAB account. Those transfer fees are around the $30-40 mark. Ping me late next week for more specific info :)
On Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 3:08 AM, Mike Peace <mike.pe...@gmail.com<mailto:mike.pe...@gmail.com>> wrote:
On Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 12:02 PM, Geoff McQueen - Hiive Systems <geoff.mcqu...@hiivesystems.com<mailto:geoff.mcqu...@hiivesystems.com>> wrote:
I'm looking at opening a bank account while I'm here in the US, which I can then hook up to Paypal and receive US dollars into (via their PayFlowPro solution, or something similar from another vendor). This isn't a long term solution to the problems/costs of receiving money in US dollars (damn Australian banks).
Ideally I'd be opening a business bank account (so I can do the merchant services thing properly), but I haven't set up a corporate structure here yet, and won't have time to on this trip, so I'll just be opening an account in my own name.
I imagine all the main banks have decent internet banking services now, which is great, so the advice I'm really looking for is who amongst the banks has the easiest online international transfers (so I can move money backwards and forwards between this account and my Australian accounts).
Of course, if easy=10% fees on international transfers, that will suck.
Ideally, it would be a feature where you can create a SWIFT transaction or similar via the internet banking interface and have the money turn up in AU a day or a few days later.
Has anyone who's moved to the US from AU, or vice versa, got any advice to offer here?
I've heard there's risk of being charged US tax if you receive money
in US even if your company is outside of US.
But it is good news that you've got it going with paypal pro..
Rex Chung
CEO and Founder
Ankoder - Video Encoding On Demand
http://www.ankoder.com --------------------------------------
Sydney: +61 421 591 943
HK: +852 6901 2682
Twitter: @rexchung @ankoder
On Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 11:40 AM, Geoff McQueen - Hiive Systems
<geoff.mcqu...@hiivesystems.com> wrote:
> Thanks mate; will do.
> Thanks for the suggestion on Schwab this morning: I tried them, and they
> were very apologetic that they couldn’t deal with a non-resident L If I get
> an SSN, however, they should be good.
> I had more luck with Bank of America – they were OK with me not being a
> resident. They support SWIFT xfers via their internet banking service, so if
> I can hook up PayflowPro from Paypal (to get a proper merchant gateway) to
> this account (not sure as it isn’t a business account, but in the US paypal
> seems to be much more fully featured), then I can do something similar to
> what you’re doing David. If the balance of the account is > $1500US then
> there are no monthly fees; else it is $8.99. There’s a 6 month moratorium on
> fees in any case.
> I also have a Visa debit connected to it so I can pay US suppliers – hosting
> companies and the like – via this US account, which could help mitigate
> exchange rate risk as well as reducing fees.
> Will keep update the Valley wiki page with what I find...
> Geoff
> From: silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com
> [mailto:silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of David Jones
> Sent: Wednesday, 21 October 2009 8:34 PM
> To: silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com
> Subject: [SiliconBeach] Re: Advice request: Which US Bank to open an account
> with (for international xfers)
> Geoff,
> our CFO is on school holidays but we process Paypal into Silicon Valley bank
> and transfer back/forth to local NAB account. Those transfer fees are around
> the $30-40 mark. Ping me late next week for more specific info :)
> On Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 3:08 AM, Mike Peace <mike.pe...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 12:02 PM, Geoff McQueen - Hiive Systems
> <geoff.mcqu...@hiivesystems.com> wrote:
> I’m looking at opening a bank account while I’m here in the US, which I can
> then hook up to Paypal and receive US dollars into (via their PayFlowPro
> solution, or something similar from another vendor). This isn’t a long term
> solution to the problems/costs of receiving money in US dollars (damn
> Australian banks).
> Ideally I’d be opening a business bank account (so I can do the merchant
> services thing properly), but I haven’t set up a corporate structure here
> yet, and won’t have time to on this trip, so I’ll just be opening an account
> in my own name.
> I imagine all the main banks have decent internet banking services now,
> which is great, so the advice I’m really looking for is who amongst the
> banks has the easiest online international transfers (so I can move money
> backwards and forwards between this account and my Australian accounts).
> Of course, if easy=10% fees on international transfers, that will suck.
> Ideally, it would be a feature where you can create a SWIFT transaction or
> similar via the internet banking interface and have the money turn up in AU
> a day or a few days later.
> Has anyone who’s moved to the US from AU, or vice versa, got any advice to
> offer here?
My understanding I there is a thing called the 183 day rule; if you spend 183 days in the US they regard you as a tax citizen; if you spend 183 days in AU, you belong to the ATO.
Having said that, there might be disclosure & reporting provisions like the ATO has on AU banks; if you don't provide an TFN, the bank has to 'keep' a percentage of your interest bearing income at the top tax rate until you provide a TFN, after which tme you become the ATO's problem.
I think I'll try & get an SS# cause I think that it has similar properties to a TFN; no idea if they'll let this little alien get one though.
-----Original Message-----
From: Rex Chung <rex.ch...@gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, 21 October 2009 8:42 PM
To: silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com <silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com>
Subject: [SiliconBeach] Re: Advice request: Which US Bank to open an account with (for international xfers)
Geoff,
I've heard there's risk of being charged US tax if you receive money
in US even if your company is outside of US.
But it is good news that you've got it going with paypal pro..
Rex Chung
CEO and Founder
Ankoder - Video Encoding On Demand
http://www.ankoder.com --------------------------------------
Sydney: +61 421 591 943
HK: +852 6901 2682
Twitter: @rexchung @ankoder
On Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 11:40 AM, Geoff McQueen - Hiive Systems
<geoff.mcqu...@hiivesystems.com> wrote:
> Thanks mate; will do.
> Thanks for the suggestion on Schwab this morning: I tried them, and they
> were very apologetic that they couldn’t deal with a non-resident L If I get
> an SSN, however, they should be good.
> I had more luck with Bank of America – they were OK with me not being a
> resident. They support SWIFT xfers via their internet banking service, so if
> I can hook up PayflowPro from Paypal (to get a proper merchant gateway) to
> this account (not sure as it isn’t a business account, but in the US paypal
> seems to be much more fully featured), then I can do something similar to
> what you’re doing David. If the balance of the account is > $1500US then
> there are no monthly fees; else it is $8.99. There’s a 6 month moratorium on
> fees in any case.
> I also have a Visa debit connected to it so I can pay US suppliers – hosting
> companies and the like – via this US account, which could help mitigate
> exchange rate risk as well as reducing fees.
> Will keep update the Valley wiki page with what I find...
> Geoff
> From: silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com
> [mailto:silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of David Jones
> Sent: Wednesday, 21 October 2009 8:34 PM
> To: silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com
> Subject: [SiliconBeach] Re: Advice request: Which US Bank to open an account
> with (for international xfers)
> Geoff,
> our CFO is on school holidays but we process Paypal into Silicon Valley bank
> and transfer back/forth to local NAB account. Those transfer fees are around
> the $30-40 mark. Ping me late next week for more specific info :)
> On Thu, Oct 22, 2009 at 3:08 AM, Mike Peace <mike.pe...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Wed, Oct 21, 2009 at 12:02 PM, Geoff McQueen - Hiive Systems
> <geoff.mcqu...@hiivesystems.com> wrote:
> I’m looking at opening a bank account while I’m here in the US, which I can
> then hook up to Paypal and receive US dollars into (via their PayFlowPro
> solution, or something similar from another vendor). This isn’t a long term
> solution to the problems/costs of receiving money in US dollars (damn
> Australian banks).
> Ideally I’d be opening a business bank account (so I can do the merchant
> services thing properly), but I haven’t set up a corporate structure here
> yet, and won’t have time to on this trip, so I’ll just be opening an account
> in my own name.
> I imagine all the main banks have decent internet banking services now,
> which is great, so the advice I’m really looking for is who amongst the
> banks has the easiest online international transfers (so I can move money
> backwards and forwards between this account and my Australian accounts).
> Of course, if easy=10% fees on international transfers, that will suck.
> Ideally, it would be a feature where you can create a SWIFT transaction or
> similar via the internet banking interface and have the money turn up in AU
> a day or a few days later.
> Has anyone who’s moved to the US from AU, or vice versa, got any advice to
> offer here?
I was an exchange student when I was in the US last year and I was lucky enough to be able to open an account without an SSN. Apparently it's legally possible to open an account without one, but only student areas seem to actually know about it / cater for it, so maybe if you try bank branches around Stanford/Berkeley/UCSF etc you might have some luck. I used the Citibank on Shattuck St, Berkeley.
I didn't use it, but I believe Citibank has a special global account where you can easily draw fund into different currencies, it sort of gives you a virtual account in every country they operate. I think someone said HSBC do a similar thing, but they have hardly any branches in the US, and like Australia you are charged to withdraw from another bank's ATM, so you need to get a bank with lots of local branches like Citi or B of A (this varies in other parts of the country like the east coast). In the UK I'm spoiled, we have fee-free ATM withdrawals from any bank over here.
Oh -- I also was told that because I had an Australian Citibank credit card for a few years, Citibank US were happy to give me a US credit card. I didn't take them up on it, but this might be important for you, as normally you have to be a customer for a while before they give you a credit limit.
HTH, feel free to put any or all of this on the wiki!
You might want to check out AFEX (www.afex.com.au) who we use to
handle our overseas customer payments. They receive US$ payments on
our behalf via direct deposit into their Bank of America account and
then transfer the funds to our Australian account. No ongoing fees, US
$10 per trade and their FOREX rate is much better than that offered by
our bank.
Not sure if they can handle Paypal but worth asking...
<geoff.mcqu...@hiivesystems.com> wrote:
> I'm looking at opening a bank account while I'm here in the US, which I can then hook up to Paypal and receive US dollars into (via their PayFlowPro solution, or something similar from another vendor). This isn't a long term solution to the problems/costs of receiving money in US dollars (damn Australian banks).
> Ideally I'd be opening a business bank account (so I can do the merchant services thing properly), but I haven't set up a corporate structure here yet, and won't have time to on this trip, so I'll just be opening an account in my own name.
> I imagine all the main banks have decent internet banking services now, which is great, so the advice I'm really looking for is who amongst the banks has the easiest online international transfers (so I can move money backwards and forwards between this account and my Australian accounts).
> Of course, if easy=10% fees on international transfers, that will suck.
> Ideally, it would be a feature where you can create a SWIFT transaction or similar via the internet banking interface and have the money turn up in AU a day or a few days later.
> Has anyone who's moved to the US from AU, or vice versa, got any advice to offer here?
I must be missing something here. Why not just open a USD account
with your/an Australia bank? I think there are some bean counting
advantages (talk to your favourite bean counter) to doing this too,
where you can claim exchange rate conversions as operational expenses.
That is an option; I've heard however the options are quite limited (NAB allows you to get paid in USD), and I've also heard the fees are horrible (higher risk of charge backs and the like).
Finally, there are more online payment solutions on this side of the Pacific, but they'll only deposit into a US bank account, so at least getting one set up while here in person gives me options, even if you're right and the bean counters suggest going down the NAB fee path...
-----Original Message-----
From: silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com [mailto:silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Phil Evans
Sent: Thursday, 22 October 2009 5:02 PM
To: Silicon Beach Australia
Subject: [SiliconBeach] Re: Advice request: Which US Bank to open an account with (for international xfers)
Hi Geoff.
I must be missing something here. Why not just open a USD account
with your/an Australia bank? I think there are some bean counting
advantages (talk to your favourite bean counter) to doing this too,
where you can claim exchange rate conversions as operational expenses.
Tidbit of half informed info: I'm not sure if this applies, but we make 95%
of our income in the US and I know that we need to make sure we have no
assets at all in the US, not even a co-located server (normal hosting is
fine). This means we can fill out these tax forms (W8BEN) that declare that
our "income is not effectively connected with the conduct of a trade or
business in the United States" and therefore we can get paid without ever
having to deal with the US Tax Office and no tax is withheld. Not sure what
happens if you do have assets there and if a bank account is considered an
asset but I'd recommend anyone thinking of this to not listen to my advice,
but to get some solid professional advice on this ;)
[mailto:silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Geoff McQueen
- Hiive Systems
Sent: Friday, October 23, 2009 11:17 AM
To: silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com
Subject: [SiliconBeach] Re: Advice request: Which US Bank to open an account
with (for international xfers)
Phil,
That is an option; I've heard however the options are quite limited (NAB
allows you to get paid in USD), and I've also heard the fees are horrible
(higher risk of charge backs and the like).
Finally, there are more online payment solutions on this side of the
Pacific, but they'll only deposit into a US bank account, so at least
getting one set up while here in person gives me options, even if you're
right and the bean counters suggest going down the NAB fee path...
Geofff
-----Original Message-----
From: silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com
[mailto:silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Phil Evans
Sent: Thursday, 22 October 2009 5:02 PM
To: Silicon Beach Australia
Subject: [SiliconBeach] Re: Advice request: Which US Bank to open an account
with (for international xfers)
Hi Geoff.
I must be missing something here. Why not just open a USD account
with your/an Australia bank? I think there are some bean counting
advantages (talk to your favourite bean counter) to doing this too,
where you can claim exchange rate conversions as operational expenses.
It is possible to open a USA bank account without being a US company/
citizen.
E.g. HSBC do this, but you may have to jump through some hoops.
My understanding is that there are other banks that will do it (and
might be better than HSBC).
Note: My understanding is that you can not get US PayPal PayFlowPro
unless you are a US company with a presence in the USA, but if you
find out otherwise then that would be great to know.
Alternatively, if you find someone who is happy to give you a US
merchant account then please do let us know what you find out and
decide on (as this is really relevant to a lot of people these days).
<geoff.mcqu...@hiivesystems.com> wrote:
> I'm looking at opening a bank account while I'm here in the US, which I can then hook up to Paypal and receive US dollars into (via their PayFlowPro solution, or something similar from another vendor). This isn't a long term solution to the problems/costs of receiving money in US dollars (damn Australian banks).
> Ideally I'd be opening a business bank account (so I can do the merchant services thing properly), but I haven't set up a corporate structure here yet, and won't have time to on this trip, so I'll just be opening an account in my own name.
> I imagine all the main banks have decent internet banking services now, which is great, so the advice I'm really looking for is who amongst the banks has the easiest online international transfers (so I can move money backwards and forwards between this account and my Australian accounts).
> Of course, if easy=10% fees on international transfers, that will suck.
> Ideally, it would be a feature where you can create a SWIFT transaction or similar via the internet banking interface and have the money turn up in AU a day or a few days later.
> Has anyone who's moved to the US from AU, or vice versa, got any advice to offer here?
We have HSBC Australia USD accounts. I think it is $20 a month or so,
good service though. Also try Silicon Valley Bank.
For forex transfers (buying AUD with USD in your case) I recommend
Ozforex (www.ozforex.com.au). Ozforex are a shining light for
Australian start ups. Half owned by Mac Bank and its founder Matt
Gilmour, started from his garage in Dee Why yada yada. They run a 24
hr cust service clock and have about 300 ppl worldwide. Much better
rates than banks... the big 4 bank rates are shown for comparison in
the quoting engine
Chris
On Oct 23, 2:52 pm, Joseph Renzi <google....@josephrenzi.com> wrote:
> It is possible to open a USA bank account without being a US company/
> citizen.
> E.g. HSBC do this, but you may have to jump through some hoops.
> My understanding is that there are other banks that will do it (and
> might be better than HSBC).
> Note: My understanding is that you can not get US PayPal PayFlowPro
> unless you are a US company with a presence in the USA, but if you
> find out otherwise then that would be great to know.
> Alternatively, if you find someone who is happy to give you a US
> merchant account then please do let us know what you find out and
> decide on (as this is really relevant to a lot of people these days).
> Joe
> On Oct 22, 3:02 am, Geoff McQueen - Hiive Systems
> <geoff.mcqu...@hiivesystems.com> wrote:
> > I'm looking at opening a bank account while I'm here in the US, which I can then hook up to Paypal and receive US dollars into (via their PayFlowPro solution, or something similar from another vendor). This isn't a long term solution to the problems/costs of receiving money in US dollars (damn Australian banks).
> > Ideally I'd be opening a business bank account (so I can do the merchant services thing properly), but I haven't set up a corporate structure here yet, and won't have time to on this trip, so I'll just be opening an account in my own name.
> > I imagine all the main banks have decent internet banking services now, which is great, so the advice I'm really looking for is who amongst the banks has the easiest online international transfers (so I can move money backwards and forwards between this account and my Australian accounts).
> > Of course, if easy=10% fees on international transfers, that will suck.
> > Ideally, it would be a feature where you can create a SWIFT transaction or similar via the internet banking interface and have the money turn up in AU a day or a few days later.
> > Has anyone who's moved to the US from AU, or vice versa, got any advice to offer here?
Are you saying hosting on Amazon EC2 is considered "colocation" and
therefore be potentially liable to pay US tax?
Rex Chung
CEO and Founder
Ankoder - Video Encoding On Demand
http://www.ankoder.com --------------------------------------
Sydney: +61 421 591 943
HK: +852 6901 2682
Twitter: @rexchung @ankoder
On Fri, Oct 23, 2009 at 8:46 AM, Bart Jellema <bart.jell...@tjoos.com> wrote:
> Howdy,
> Tidbit of half informed info: I'm not sure if this applies, but we make 95%
> of our income in the US and I know that we need to make sure we have no
> assets at all in the US, not even a co-located server (normal hosting is
> fine). This means we can fill out these tax forms (W8BEN) that declare that
> our "income is not effectively connected with the conduct of a trade or
> business in the United States" and therefore we can get paid without ever
> having to deal with the US Tax Office and no tax is withheld. Not sure what
> happens if you do have assets there and if a bank account is considered an
> asset but I'd recommend anyone thinking of this to not listen to my advice,
> but to get some solid professional advice on this ;)
> Bart
> -----Original Message-----
> From: silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com
> [mailto:silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Geoff McQueen
> - Hiive Systems
> Sent: Friday, October 23, 2009 11:17 AM
> To: silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com
> Subject: [SiliconBeach] Re: Advice request: Which US Bank to open an account
> with (for international xfers)
> Phil,
> That is an option; I've heard however the options are quite limited (NAB
> allows you to get paid in USD), and I've also heard the fees are horrible
> (higher risk of charge backs and the like).
> Finally, there are more online payment solutions on this side of the
> Pacific, but they'll only deposit into a US bank account, so at least
> getting one set up while here in person gives me options, even if you're
> right and the bean counters suggest going down the NAB fee path...
> Geofff
> -----Original Message-----
> From: silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com
> [mailto:silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Phil Evans
> Sent: Thursday, 22 October 2009 5:02 PM
> To: Silicon Beach Australia
> Subject: [SiliconBeach] Re: Advice request: Which US Bank to open an account
> with (for international xfers)
> Hi Geoff.
> I must be missing something here. Why not just open a USD account
> with your/an Australia bank? I think there are some bean counting
> advantages (talk to your favourite bean counter) to doing this too,
> where you can claim exchange rate conversions as operational expenses.
If you are going to use your bank accounts in the US (i.e. are looking
for ATM coverage) then Chase in New York or Wells Fargo in Silicon
Valley are probably best.
The best international account to have is Bank of America. You can
withdraw money fee-free from Westpac ATMs in Australia (or BNP in
France or Barclays in UK).
I am not sure about large transfers but you are probably best going
for a forex service in that case.
On Oct 25, 4:21 am, Rex Chung <rex.ch...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Are you saying hosting on Amazon EC2 is considered "colocation" and
> therefore be potentially liable to pay US tax?
> Rex Chung
> CEO and Founder
> Ankoder - Video Encoding On Demandhttp://www.ankoder.com > --------------------------------------
> Sydney: +61 421 591 943
> HK: +852 6901 2682
> Twitter: @rexchung @ankoder
> On Fri, Oct 23, 2009 at 8:46 AM, Bart Jellema <bart.jell...@tjoos.com> wrote:
> > Howdy,
> > Tidbit of half informed info: I'm not sure if this applies, but we make 95%
> > of our income in the US and I know that we need to make sure we have no
> > assets at all in the US, not even a co-located server (normal hosting is
> > fine). This means we can fill out these tax forms (W8BEN) that declare that
> > our "income is not effectively connected with the conduct of a trade or
> > business in the United States" and therefore we can get paid without ever
> > having to deal with the US Tax Office and no tax is withheld. Not sure what
> > happens if you do have assets there and if a bank account is considered an
> > asset but I'd recommend anyone thinking of this to not listen to my advice,
> > but to get some solid professional advice on this ;)
> > Bart
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com
> > [mailto:silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Geoff McQueen
> > - Hiive Systems
> > Sent: Friday, October 23, 2009 11:17 AM
> > To: silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com
> > Subject: [SiliconBeach] Re: Advice request: Which US Bank to open an account
> > with (for international xfers)
> > Phil,
> > That is an option; I've heard however the options are quite limited (NAB
> > allows you to get paid in USD), and I've also heard the fees are horrible
> > (higher risk of charge backs and the like).
> > Finally, there are more online payment solutions on this side of the
> > Pacific, but they'll only deposit into a US bank account, so at least
> > getting one set up while here in person gives me options, even if you're
> > right and the bean counters suggest going down the NAB fee path...
> > Geofff
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com
> > [mailto:silicon-beach-australia@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of Phil Evans
> > Sent: Thursday, 22 October 2009 5:02 PM
> > To: Silicon Beach Australia
> > Subject: [SiliconBeach] Re: Advice request: Which US Bank to open an account
> > with (for international xfers)
> > Hi Geoff.
> > I must be missing something here. Why not just open a USD account
> > with your/an Australia bank? I think there are some bean counting
> > advantages (talk to your favourite bean counter) to doing this too,
> > where you can claim exchange rate conversions as operational expenses.
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